Report: Blackpool 2 Blackburn Rovers 4

On a frustrating night for The Seasiders, where defensive mistakes proved costly, replies came from Kelvin Mellor and substitute Danny Philliskirk.

Manager Gary Bowyer was forced to make two changes to his side for the fixture, with Curtis Tilt and Kyle Vassell failing to recover from injury in time. It meant starts for Nick Anderton and Nathan Delfouneso.

Despite Sean Longstaff firing wide from distance inside the first three minutes, it was the visitors who created the better opportunities early on. An 18-yard drive from Richie Smallwood was well saved by Ryan Allsop, while Nick Anderton was positioned well to knock an effort from Bradley Dack away from the line.

At the other end, Ollie Turton made a good run down the right and saw his strike pushed away by David Raya. The ball then fell to Delfouneso, however a Rovers defender quickly blocked the incoming rebound.

It was the visitors who made the breakthrough in the 25th minute though, when Marcus Antonsson pounced upon a loose back-pass from Kelvin Mellor to slot past Allsop.

Blackpool weren’t behind for long, as Mellor quickly atoned for his mistake by scoring his second goal of the season. The defender latched on to a free-kick from Jay Spearing and found the far corner with a header.

The Seasiders gained further momentum from the equaliser and had another Spearing free-kick pushed away by Raya, before Derrick Williams cleared a Longstaff strike off the line.

Richie Smallwood was booked for simulation after trying to win himself a free-kick outside the area, before Jimmy Ryan saw yellow for a foul on Elliott Bennett.

Ryan Allsop had to claw a dangerous Peter Whittingham corner away from danger just before the interval, as well as save from Elliott Bennett.

Another goal did come from Blackburn right on half-time though, as Bradley Dack charged down a clearance from Longstaff before finding the net.

Half-Time: Blackpool 1 Blackburn Rovers 2

Blackburn, content to sit back and counter, did just that shortly after the restart and saw a strike from Antonsson cannon back off the post prior to being cleared away.

Blackpool got themselves in a pickle defensively five minutes later and needed Allsop to scamper up quickly to close down a stinging strike from Dack.

Jay Spearing conceded a free-kick right on the edge of the area in the 62nd minute, and that led to Blackburn scoring a third. Captain Charlie Mulgrew stepped up and fired the ball through the wall and into the net.

The visitors quickly made it four. Just after Will Aimson had cleared a Dack header away from the line, a goalmouth scramble ended up with Paul Downing scoring from close range.